With the increasing number of urban and suburban households with pets, particularly dogs, local governments have enacted ordinances requiring pet owners to clean up after their pets in order to reduce pedestrian hazards and increase sanitation conditions in the public streets and outdoor facilities. The waste or debris left by domestic animals is unsightly, and more importantly often presents a health hazard.
Various devices have been designed to assist pet owners in cleaning up their pets feces. However, such tools are for the most part unsanitary and only marginally effective. These tools include a variety of scoops for shoveling, bags for catching and tongs for grasping pet wastes. They tend to be bulky and require daily washing after use. For example, some tools require both hands from the pet owner, in multiple steps, to maneuver, complicating the whole routine of collection and disposal. Other tools risk exposing the owner's hand to the pet waste, presenting another sanitary hazard for the pet owner. As such, the conventional devices have not been widely embraced by the pet-owning public. Some of the conventional devices have been disclosed in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,387 issued to Kaplan on Nov. 18, 2003;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,335 issued to Kelly et al. on Apr. 29, 2003;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,073 issued to Harrison on Nov. 26, 2002;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,606 issued to Marshall on May 14, 2002;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,605 issued to Kaplan on May 14, 2002;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,370 issued to Dooley, Jr. et al. on Mar. 21, 2000;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,050 issued to Searing et al. on Apr. 4, 1995;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,647 issued to Spevak on Aug. 21, 1984;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,351 issued to Orofino on Jul. 1, 1980;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,400 issued Migdal on May 29, 1979;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,866 issued to Schall et al. on Oct. 24, 1978.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a pet waste collection and disposal device that is portable and easy to operate with one hand.
It is also desirable to have a pet waste collection and disposal device that minimizes the user's exposure to the pet waste during the collection and disposal process.